By The River

You may well have missed it, but there was an interesting story this week in the Lebanon (Pa.) Daily News by reporter Richard Fellinger about how Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett's own chief of staff and other staffers move back and forth between their jobs and getting the boss re-elected.

Corbett, of course, is a Republican and newly the scourge of the Democratic Party in the Legislature. Earlier this month, he indicted 12 Democrats for allegedly conducting politics on the public dime. Among the indicted were Michael Manzo, former chief of staff to House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese, and Jeff Foreman, former chief of staff to House Majority Whip Mike Veon, who was himself indicted. Of course, it's Corbett's job to enforce the law, but the timing of the arrests just as the fall campaign is getting under way, and the televised perp walks of a hand-cuffed Veon and others--who haven't yet been convicted of anything-- suggest that Republican political goals were as important here as law enforcement.

Corbett is in a re-election battle this fall with Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli, the Democratic candidate, who wasted little time after the Lebanon Daily News article appeared in accusing Corbett of hypocrisy. The Republicans also hope to retake the House, which they lost by a single seat in the 2006 election after years in control.

Fellinger's article points out that Brian Nutt, Corbett's chief of staff, has moved off the state payroll to become his campaign chief, and that several other staffers have played dual roles as well. Kevin Harley, Corbett's press secretary, insists it was all perfectly legal. "There is a right way to do this, and a legal way, and that's what is being done," he told Fellinger.

But political activist Gene Stilp, who applauded the Bonusgate arrests, remains troubled. "This is not showing good judgment," he said of Corbett. "He has to be squeaky clean, and this is not squeaky clean."

One of my Shipoke neighbors, a lawyer, says Corbett may have opened a Pandora's box, and wonders who on the Attorney General's staff made the decision to stage televised perp walks or even to bring certain cases before the statewide grand jury. Permanent or political staff? God knows we need cleaner politics in Pennsylvania, but we don't need politicized justice.